To circumcise or not to circumcise
November 30th, 2006I have a friend that has been wanting to be mentioned in my blogs. I have a good topic that mentions him today but I will not disclose his name unless he wants to make some comments himself.
Last night we had a discussion on baby boys and circumcision. “He” thinks circumcision is more for religious reasons and not for hygiene/medical reasons. But according to his wife the real reason he wouldn’t want to have his son circumcised is because he doesn’t want to have explain when the kid is older and they are standing next to each other at a urinal. HAHAHA.
Luckily we won’t have to think about this yet since I think the baby in my belly is a girl. We’ll confirm next month though!
Here’s some info from wikipedia:
“Circumcision cuts some or all of the foreskin from the penis. The frenulum may also be cut away at the same time, in a procedure called frenectomy. The word “circumcision” comes from Latin (meaning “around”) and caedere (meaning “to cut”). Circumcision predates recorded human history, with depictions found in stone-age cave drawings and Egyptian tombs. The origins of the practice are lost in antiquity. Theories include that circumcision is a form of ritual sacrifice or offering, a sign of submission to a deity, a rite of passage to adulthood, a mark of defeat or slavery, or an attempt to alter esthetics or sexuality. Circumcision of males is a religious requirement of the Muslim and Jewish faiths. It is also practiced by the majority of Americans, South Koreans, and Filipinos.
Infant circumcision has come under increasing discussion in recent decades. The American Medical Association states that medical associations in the US, Australia, and Canada do not recommend routine “non-therapeutic” circumcision, which it defines as the non-religious, non-ritualistic, not medically necessary, elective circumcision of male newborns. According to the AMA’s 1999 literature review, in the US when parents choose elective circumcision for their child, it is largely because of social or cultural expectations, rather than medical concerns. However, a 2001 survey questionare found that 23.5% of parents listed ‘health reasons’. The genital integrity movement condemns all infant circumcision, religious or secular, as a form of male genital mutilation that they consider comparable to female genital mutilation. Some argue that there are medical benefits in the procedure (i.e. fewer urinary tract infection in infant males, less penile cancer in adult males, and possibly less sexually transmissible infections, including HIV. Circumcision may be needed to treat chronic inflammation of the penis, and penile cancer. Some physicians recommend circumcision to treat phimosis, while others recommend the other effective treatments for this condition.”
Did you know you were going to learn something new today? What are your thoughts?
